Ashokavadana Will Tell You Everything About “Ashoka: The Great”

3/20/2018 7:39:11 AM

The description about the birth and reign of Mauryan Emperor Ashoka is described in an Indian – Sanskrit language text called Ashokavadana. It consist everything about legends and historical narratives. It glorified the greatness of Ashoka as a Buddhist emperor who aimed to spread Buddhism far and wide.

Divyavadana is an anthology of many Buddhist legends and narratives and it contains one of the avadana texts as Ashokavadana. Jean Przyluski told that according to him, text was composed by Buddhist monks of Mathura region. This is because the text highly praises the city of Mathura, its monasteries and monks living there. It is also known as Ashokrajavadana. Fa Hien translated this text into Chinese language in 300 CE as A-yu wang chuan. And later, it was translated in 500 CE as A-yu- wang chuan. It was also translated in French language by Jean Przyluski in 1923 and in English language by John S. Strong in 1983.